Prior art patent document published EP 2 586 481 A1 discloses a cover for a tap of a gas cylinder. The cover is made of two half-shells that are joined on a vertical contact plane comprising the longitudinal axis of the cylinder. A hook is pivotally mounted on the cover and is intended to hang the gas cylinder to a structure while in use. The hook is mounted so as to freely hang downwards and contact the cylinder when not in use. During transport this contact can lead to undesirable noise. In addition, the ends of the hook can interfere in an unwanted manner when manipulating the gas cylinder. Also the cover comprises potentially sharp angles at the joining surfaces. The cover is also configured to be mounted on the cylinder tap after screwing said tap on the cylinder, thereby leading to time consuming operations.
Prior art patent document published WO 2013/001190 A1 discloses, similarly to the previous document, a protective cover for a tap of a gas cylinder. The cover includes two half-shells assembled together, the two half-shells defining a bottom base to be mounted at the neck of the cylinder, wherein the two half-shells are assembled along a vertical plane perpendicular to the base. The two half shells define, in the assembled position, at least one opening for accessing the inner protective space. It also includes, at a top end of the cap, a part for reinforcing and locking the two half-shells, the reinforcing and locking part including two ends coupled to the two half-shells, respectively. The reinforcing and locking part is generally beam-shaped and is mounted onto a frame formed by the half-shells, the frame covered by the reinforcing part consisting of a top handle for gripping the cap, both ends of the reinforcing and locking part being snap-coupled to the half-shells. A sliding and pivoting hook is provided on the cover. This hook is intended to fasten the gas cylinder to a horizontal bar of a bed, e.g. of a hospital bed. The hook is interesting in that the active ends of the two curved arms are connected by a transversal bar. The arms do not therefore present free ends that would potentially unintentionally hang at various objects in the surroundings of the cylinder. It can also be partially driven back into the cover. The curved ends of the arm and the transversal bar remain however outside of the cover and can therefore still interfere when manipulating the cylinder. Similarly to the cover of the previously discussed document, the present cover is also configured to be mounted on the cylinder tap after screwing said tap on the cylinder, thereby leading to time consuming operations.
The covers of the above discussed to documents are also quite bulky.